The fight between Zuo Liangyu and Shang Yi was finally resolved satisfactorily, and Wu Di finally breathed a sigh of relief. But at this moment, another emergency came. Yuezhou Yijing was captured by Zhang Xianzhong, and Hunan was in danger.
It turned out that while Shang Yi and Zuo Liangyu were fighting, Zhang Xianzhong fought his way out of the Ming army's siege from the west of Xianning, and then went all the way to the west, successively capturing Puqi, Chongyang, Tongcheng, Lingji and other counties, and along the way They burned, killed, looted, and did everything. However, Zhang Xianzhong did not massacre the city this time. Instead, he forcibly incorporated all the young men into his army to expand his strength. As a result, he gathered more than 100,000 troops, known as 200,000. , and then led his army to attack Yueyang.
The Huguang Province of the Ming Dynasty was the two provinces of Hubei and Hunan in later generations. However, in Huguang, the Ming Dynasty established two governors, namely the Governor of Huguang and the Governor of Pianyuan, who were actually in charge of Hubei and Hunan.
Governor Li Gande of Pianyuan, General Kong Xigui and Military Supervisor Xu Jing led their troops to Yuezhou to resist Zhang Xianzhong. At the same time, they sent people to ask for help from Wu Zong. However, Hunan had been in peace for a long time and did not know about the war. The soldiers were in battle formations for a long time. Although Zhang Xianzhong has gathered a bunch of rabble, after all, he still has tens of thousands of troops, and Zhang Xianzhong himself has experienced hundreds of battles, as well as Sun Kewang, Liu Wenxiu, Ai Nengqi, Li Dingguo and other generals, so Li Qiande and others They were no match for each other, but as a result, the distress letter was delivered to Wu Gang. Yuezhou was captured by Yijing, while Li Qiande, Kong Xigui, Xu Jing and others retreated to Changsha Prefecture.
After Wu Di received the report, he couldn't help being surprised. He didn't expect Zhang Xianzhong to become rampant again. At the same time, he hated Li Qiande and others for being so useless that they couldn't hold on for even a few days. Now Zhang Xianzhong's military front was pointed directly at Changsha Mansion. Wu Di But you know that there are two vassal kings living in Changsha Prefecture, one is King Hui who fled from Jingzhou Prefecture to Changsha Prefecture for refuge, and the other is King Ji who lives in Changsha Prefecture. In the Ming Dynasty, the number of lost vassal vassals was the largest The crime was that Yang Sichang died in distress because he lost King Xiang of Xiangyang. Now there are two vassal kings living in Changsha. Once there is a loss, Wu Zong will naturally be involved. Even if he has two heads, it is not enough. Chongzhen cut it.
Therefore, Wu Di hurriedly summoned Shang Yi, Liu Liangzuo, Huang Degong, Ma Ke and others to discuss how to rescue Changsha Mansion.
Shang Yi immediately proposed that he should go in two directions, collect horses from each army, send a small number of men and horses, rush to Changsha Mansion to garrison, and first resist Zhang Xianzhong's army, because Changsha is a big city and the city defense is very strong. As long as it is guarded by elite soldiers, We will definitely be able to protect the city. And if Wu Di leads the army and arrives later, he can attack Zhang Xianzhong from both sides and defeat Zhang Xianzhong.
After Wu Di heard this, he also thought that what Shang Yi said was reasonable, and the men and horses sent to Changsha early could also be the merchant army, but the merchant army currently lacked horses. Wu Di immediately ordered Liu Liangzuo and Huang Degong to borrow one each. A thousand horses were given to Shang Yi, and Zuo Liangyu was ordered to borrow another thousand horses.
Both Liu Liangzuo and Huang Degong had benefited from Shang Yi, so naturally they would not refuse to borrow. Zuo Liangyu was now much more honest. After receiving Wu Di's order, he immediately gathered one thousand and one hundred horses without even saying a word. , and sent it to Wu Di. In one go, he had collected three thousand horses.
Shang Yi immediately ordered Zhou Shaohuan to lead the men and horses of the second regiment, leaving the artillery battalion and the pike battalion. He also transferred a musket battalion from the third regiment to the second regiment. A total of three musket battalions were assembled. They all went into battle lightly and rode on horseback. Go to Changsha Prefecture. Shang Yi ordered that Changsha Prefecture must be held firmly in a hurry. The city is still there and the people are there, but the city is destroyed and people will die.
After Zhou Shaohuan ordered his army to set off, Wu Di felt a little relieved. At the same time, he ordered Zuo Liangyu to lead his army to Ningzhou in Nanchang Prefecture to garrison to block the Western Army's eastward march to Jiangxi. Then he and Shang Yi, Liu Liangzuo, and Huang Degong They led the army and marched towards Changsha Mansion.
There is a distance of more than 400 miles from Changsha Prefecture to Xianning. Although reinforcements were sent, Wu Di was still afraid of the danger and ordered a rush march. They must reach Changsha within five days. Anyone who fails to do so will be killed. .However, all the generals also knew that Wu Di was really anxious this time, so no one complained. After all, except Zuo Liangyu, other generals did not dare to blatantly disobey the imperial order.
So they all urged their soldiers to move quickly. After the troops set off, they walked all the way in a hurry. They had to cover a distance of eighty or ninety miles every day. Although it was mid-August and the autumn weather was crisp, the Ming troops were only tired. Tired of running around and exhausted.
However, among the large armies, only the Merchant Army was an exception. After sending out the advance troops, the Merchant Army only had more than 5,000 troops left. Moreover, the artillery of the two regiments was also concentrated together. There were eight Hongyi cannons alone, which was supposed to be a heavy burden. It was much larger than the other armies, but during the rush march, only the Merchant Army was the most relaxed and did not appear to be struggling at all. Along the way, the Merchant Army could actually be heard singing. The generals were all puzzled. Could it be that all the merchant soldiers were donkeys? Why didn't they feel tired?
In fact, soldiers of the Merchant Army have to conduct long-distance training twice a month. During the training, the soldiers are required to march at least 120 miles every day with their equipment in order. It can be said that this is the training of the Merchant Army. It is the most arduous training among all, but if you can complete this training, then marching towards this kind of march will naturally become an easy task.
This time, Wu Di was also accompanying the army. He saw with his own eyes, although it was just a small matter of marching, but he could also see how strict the training the merchant army usually received. And the army produced by such training How terrifying, let alone the fact that there is no second army in the Ming Dynasty, even the Qing army may not be able to achieve it, and such an army is almost equivalent to Shang Yi's private army, with only ten thousand people. If the number of soldiers is increased to 100,000, Shang Yi can rely on this army to dominate the world. At that time, who else can control him?
Thinking of this, Wu Di could not help but feel a little scared. In fact, even now, the court could not control Shang Yi at all. Therefore, Wu Di had no choice but to shake his head and stop thinking about this matter.
One day later, the army arrived at Yuezhou Prefecture. Zhang Xianzhong had already abandoned the city and fled, leaving no soldiers to defend the city. However, Wu Di ordered not to enter the city, so he bypassed the city and headed straight for Changsha.
However, despite walking around the city, it can still be seen from the village that was looted outside the city and burned to only the broken beams and pillars, as well as the remaining corpses of the people, that even though Zhang Xianzhong stayed here for a short time, It is long, but the destructive power it brings here is so huge. It is not an exaggeration to describe it as inhumane. And if the villages outside the city are like this, what kind of tragedy will it be in Yuezhou City? I'm afraid It's probably even worse than Wuchang Mansion.
Of course Wu Yan couldn't help but shook his head and sighed, and the other generals also had a look of intolerance. Although each of them had done some things that harmed the people more or less, they would not go too far.
For the first time, Shang Yi felt regretful in his heart.
I had already thought like this. When I attacked Wuchang Prefecture, I should have gotten rid of Zhang Xianzhong first, regardless of other things. Even if I had to pay a certain price for it, I could save these places and people. But it was too late to regret it. Now
We can only make Zhang Xianzhong as soon as possible.
The army walked for another four days, and the places they saw along the way were similar to those in Yuezhou Prefecture, but they finally arrived at Changsha Prefecture. At this time, the four gates of Changsha City were closed, but when they saw the flag of the Ming Dynasty flying on top of the city, Wu Hong felt in his heart
I was really relieved that I finally arrived at the right time.
The defender on the city was a platoon of Shang Yi, and the platoon leader was named Wang Hu. Wu Di immediately ordered Jian Yi to call the door. Although the platoon leader Wang who was guarding the city saw that Shang Yi was coming, he insisted on asking for his instructions.
Only the leader of the group could open the door to let people go, so they were asked to wait outside the city for a while.
Shang Yi did not force it, but returned to reply to everyone. Wu Di couldn't help but have a look of displeasure on his face, and Huang Degong couldn't help but said to Shang Yi: "Vice General Shang, how did you lead the troops, how did I meet you?"
When he came, they ignored him and insisted on asking their captain for instructions. Could it be that in their hearts, the captain is more important than you? If it were me, I should behead him immediately."
Shang Yi shook his head and said: "General Huang, you are wrong. This platoon leader did the right thing."
Huang Degong was stunned for a moment and said, "Did he do it right? Is he still successful?"
Shang Yi said: "The state has national laws and the army has military regulations. Only by enforcing orders and prohibitions can we become a victorious army. It is precisely because he respects military orders that Platoon Leader Wang does not open the city gate. If he does not open the city gate without permission from his superiors,
If Kaicheng was released, that would be disobeying orders. So I say he did the right thing. But obeying military orders is just the duty of every soldier, so it cannot be said to have merit."
Huang Degong was a little confused when he heard this, but Wu Zong couldn't help being surprised. Although it seemed that the Merchant Army could not even listen to Shang Yi's words, in fact it showed that in the Merchant Army, only Shang Yi's orders were good.
Even the imperial court's orders are insignificant
passed his general order. Judging from the current situation, it is obvious that the Shang Army has always been such an army. What is even more frightening is that Shang Yi actually practiced this and took the lead in safeguarding the authority of the general order. This man seems
Although he is young, his skills are not bad at all.
But just when Wu Zong was thinking wildly, the city gate opened, and Zhou Shaohuan led the soldiers and the platoon leader just now, out of the city to greet everyone. Wu Zong hurriedly put away his thoughts and led everyone into the city.
Zhou Shaohuan brought Wang Hu to Shang Yi and said, "Sir, it was because he was ignorant just now that I was tired of waiting outside for a long time."
Shang Yi shook his head and said: "No, he did the right thing. Remember that military orders are like mountains and everyone must abide by them, even me. This rule is set by me and no one can be different, otherwise
If we make military orders, they will have no effect, do you understand?"
Zhou Shaohuan felt a chill in his heart and nodded: "Sir, I understand."
Shang Yi nodded and said to Wang Hu: "Platoon Leader Wang, you did the right thing this time. I hope you will stick to this style in the future."